Hungarian KFOR Contingent Starts Rotation
Text: Ministry of Defence | Photo: archive | 13:22 March 4, 2025The rotation of the Hungarian contingent began in the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Following the handover-takeover, the nearly 280-strong new personnel will serve from April to September. The stability of the western Balkans is of significant importance to the Government of Hungary; thus, Hungary has been participating in the largest land mission of NATO, the Kosovo Force (KFOR) peacekeeping mission in Kosovo since the beginnings, and today is among the most significant troop contributing nations.
The Hungarian Defence Forces have undertaken to fill several command positions in the operation: from October 2021, Major General Ferenc Kajári was the mission commander for one year and since October 2023, the HDF have provided the Deputy Chief of Operations of the KFOR Staff. The incoming contingent is the first one that was prepared by the Hungarian Air Force. The rotation is continuous.
The homecoming soldiers, via sharing their lessons learned, contribute to the success of future missions and the training of newcomer personnel.
Nearly 70 percent of the personnel is made up of soldiers who have arrived from the bases of Győr, Szolnok and Kecskemét. During the monthslong pre-deployment training, the personnel learned and practiced general peacekeeping tasks, including the operation of checkpoints and observation posts, which was organized by the HDF 205th Air Defence Regiment, at its Győr base.
The main task of the Hungarian contingent, besides crowd riot control tasks, is to provide fire phobia training.
A sign of the more accentuated participation of the Air Force is that starting from March, an Airbus H145M helicopter of the HDF is involved in supporting air operations of the mission as part of the KFOR Aviation Detachment carrying out air support tasks. Besides, a more advanced and longer-range Skylark reconnaissance UAV will also be taken to Kosovo.
Each capability offered for the mission further broadens the task execution possibilities of the KFOR mission. This also helps Hungarian soldiers use newly procured equipment and systems in real operational environments as well.
Press release by the Ministry of Defence
